


Inversion

by Enterprisingly



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: BAMF Pepper, Drabble Collection, F/M, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Post Iron Man 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/783012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enterprisingly/pseuds/Enterprisingly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This time, when the shield agents come calling at Tony's door, they're not looking for him; this time it's Pepper they want to talk to. And Tony can feel his world tilt just a little bit further on it's axis. [DISCONTINUED]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR IRON MAN 3  
> I was really super pissed that Pepper didn't keep her super powers at the end of the movie. Because I think that would have been the coolest thing ever. So I'm doing something about that.

Everything was normal until Pepper started glowing again. It happened slowly and subtly, a gentle flourish of soft luminescence along the curve of her shoulder or an odd gleam in her eyes, that could easily be written off as a trick of the light. These things were minor and there were larger problems at hand. Like, for example, aftermath of Aldrich Killian’s reign of terror, which was providing Tony with plenty of distractions and splitting his attention in a thousand different directions at once. So, in all honesty, Tony could probably be excused for not _really_ noticing what was going on with Pepper, until he woke up, one night, from yet another nightmare about New York, and irrefutable evidence that something was amiss was staring him full in the face.

At first, his sleep-muddled brain thought that the light on Pepper’s skin was coming from his arc reactor. But of course, that wasn’t possible, because the reactor was gone. And besides, it’s light had been blue and Pepper's entire body was glowing a warm shade of orange, as she snored softly beside him.

Instantly, every warning bell in Tony’s brain sprang to life and he shot out of bed, stumbling over his own feet as he struggled to right himself and to come to terms with what he was seeing.

This was impossible, it simply couldn’t be happening, and yet- it was. He, Tony Stark, had failed. He had not cured Pepper and the Extremis serum was still running rampant through her veins. All he had been able to do was to perhaps slow down or suppress whatever effects it was having on her. His mind was racing as he tired to piece together what exactly had gone wrong and how to fix it.

The sheets rustled as Pepper shifted in her sleep and her gently glowing arm flopped out into the space that Tony had occupied moments before. Instead of meeting warm flesh, her hand encountered only sheets which, turned out to be a good thing, because a few seconds later, they began to smolder.

And even though he would deny it later, that was right about when Tony lost his shit.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper sat in a bathtub full of cold water while her boyfriend had a breakdown in their bedroom. She could hear Tony pacing back and forth as he anxiously fired question after question at Jarvis, frequently leaving no time for the AI to answer in between.

She looked down at her right hand. Five perfectly ordinary fingers, covered in perfectly ordinary skin.  Strange to think that seconds ago, that ordinary hand had burnt a hole through the bed sheets. If Pepper was being honest, she wasn’t as upset as she probably ought to have been. The idea that Tony’s solution to the Extremis equation hadn’t worked- and the fact that the chemical might have altered her body permanently- _should_ have been horrifying, but Pepper couldn’t seem to move beyond being really annoyed because she liked those sheets quite a lot and wasn’t sure if she could replace them.

It was funny what shock could do to a person.

Naturally there was still a part of Pepper that wanted to open her mouth, start screaming, and not stop until all of this nonsense went away forever. However, that part of her was squashed under a larger and more rational part which said that Tony was doing enough screaming for the both of them outside the bathroom door, and as it clearly wasn’t getting _him_ anywhere, it certainly wasn’t going to help her.

Pepper dunked her head under the frigid water for a few seconds, allowing it to drown out the world, replacing chaotic noise with peaceful silence. If only it were so easy to solve all of her problems. A sigh slipped from her lips and she felt the air escape in a stream of bubbles that rushed along her face, before she resurfaced once more.

Outside the bathroom, she could hear Tony’s tirade winding down slightly, but from the tone of his voice, he clearly wasn’t happy. With another sigh, Pepper stood up and climbed out of the bath.

Now that she was cooled off again, there was no point in her freezing in the tub while Tony ran Jarvis ragged outside. If neither one of them was going to accomplish anything on their own, then they might as well accomplish nothing together. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbetaed so please let me know if there are any typos. :)  
> 5/3/12: Edited to fix minor issues.


End file.
